Mike Pence Rebukes Trump Over January 6 Attack
The former US Vice President Mike Pence had some harsh words for his one-time boss Donald Trump at the Gridiron dinner in Washington, this past Saturday. Speaking at the event, Pence accused the former President of putting himself and others in danger by encouraging supporters to fight against the 2020 presidential election result, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.
“President Trump was wrong,” Pence said. “I had no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”
The attack on the Capitol on 6th January 2021, which resulted in nine deaths, left many in shock. Thousands of Trump supporters breached the building in an attempt to stop Congress certifying the 2020 presidential election. Throughout the siege, Trump sent several tweets, one calling on Republicans to “fight” and others making false claims of voter fraud. He also criticized Pence for certifying the results. Pence, then Vice-President, was in the Capitol at the time.
At the dinner, Pence called the event a disgrace and said “for as long as I live, I will never, ever diminish the injuries sustained, the lives lost, or the heroism of law enforcement on that tragic day”.
Pence, who is now considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 — against Trump, continued by saying that “what happened that day mocked decency”. This public criticism comes just a few days after the Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired highly selective, misleading security footage of the Capitol attack, in an attempt to claim many rioters were “orderly”.
Moderate House Republican Reacts
When asked by the media if Trump will be held accountable, Nancy Mace — a relatively moderate House Republican from South Carolina — offered her perspective on the matter.
Mace, who was not among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over the Capitol attack, said that both sides of the nomination process were “struggling” and that January 6th was being talked about too often, “keeping us from moving our country forward”.
When asked if the Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was right to have released more than 40,000 hours of Capitol security footage to Carlson — a decision for which McCarthy has faced fierce criticism — Mace said that it was important for the footage to be released to “every outlet including CNN, every media outlet, and every defense attorney so that the public can see for itself”.
Mace proceeded to compare the deadly attack on Congress to protests for racial justice after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020. She commented that “we saw very few arrests when there were attacks by … members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter”.
Despite Pence’s criticism, it remains to be seen if Trump will truly be held accountable for the attack on the Capitol in January. Meanwhile, Mace saluted her own success in defeating a challenger endorsed by Trump last year, and said Republicans should unite behind a candidate “who can win the White House”.